I was worried about this as well when new graphics cards came out on the 256-bit bus. Remember the 8800GTX, 8800GTS, and 2900XT launching with bus rates above 256-bit (320, 384, and 512 respectively). Looks like Nvidia and ATI realized that those increased bus bit rate was little more than bragging right.

Bragging rights... plus huge increases in complexity and PCB. Running double the amount of memory traces on a crammed PCB isn't fun or cheap. One of the reasons for the cost of the 2900XT was the extra PCB layers required for the 512-bit bus.

I think that was pretty evident from the massive memory bandwidth of the 2900XT. Memory bandwidth is not an issue for AMD. They need to get their GPU cranking again. Ohh how I remember the 1950XTX!

Paul, my 1950xtx was one of the best cards I've ever owned. Pure pwnage

Still loving my 2900's though. They more than get the job done.

Interesting read though, I (unlike many here) thought they'd perform much better but as someone already stated, max out the vram on these suckers and lets see if the 512 really makes a difference. Many owners of these cards (unlike us) will keep them for a long time and when games become more memory hungry, these may pull ahead.

The 512bit cards are for CF setups. The idea is that the extra bandwidth allows for higher quality textures at resolutions that are only really playable in CF. So its a shame that they didn't even test it in CF.